Higher education is critical to our nation in several ways. The future of our economy depends upon a well educated workforce, and our tradition of equal opportunity requires access to higher education for all income classes. Joe Stiglitz reviews many of the problems in how we fund higher education and how they are impacting the future of our country and the ideals that have made us a great country.
At a fundamental level, the cost of providing higher education is growing faster than median family incomes. Consequently, many families are faced with the problem of borrowing to provide higher education for their children in order to provide their children with access to jobs that might provide a middle class income. The burden of student debt affects family formation, home ownership and other things that limit economic growth. It also impacts the quality of life for those whose incomes are not sufficient to service their debt burden. Access to higher education for many families has become more burdensome than it has been in our past. Predatory for-profit colleges have also taken advantage of this situation. They market their product to low income families by promising them access to jobs by completing programs that have been designed for promising occupations. The jobs aren't there for many of the students who complete their degrees, and most of the students fail to complete their degrees. They are left, however, with debts that are unaffordable and which cannot be discharged via bankruptcy.
To make matters worse, the cost of attending public colleges, which provide the majority of our college graduates, is rising because public funding has been steadily declining. This reduces access for low income families and it also affects the quality of education at publically funded colleges and universities. If this continues the state university systems which have been critical in the development of our nation will be less able to do what they have done in the past.
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